In the shadow of the nuclear arms race of the early Cold War, Norman Cousins, the prominent anti-nuclear activist and editor of the Saturday Review, engaged in secret missions behind the Iron Curtain to conduct high-stakes negotiations directly with the Soviet leadership on behalf of the American government. This talk will explore the culture and international politics of the 1950s & 60s, and take a fascinating look at the enormous impact one individual had on the course of American public debate, international humanitarianism, and Cold War diplomacy in the decades after World War Two. The speaker will be presenting remote.

Dr. Allen Pietrobon is an Associate Professor of History and Program Chair of the Global Affairs department at Trinity Washington University. His book, Norman Cousins: Peacemaker in the Atomic Age, explores the secret diplomatic missions the prominent journalist and anti-nuclear activist Norman Cousins conducted behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War.